Comments on: What must be foremost on everyone’s mind…

By: mcfly

mcfly — Wed, 17 May 2017 20:25:49 +0000

Even as I wrote it, I knew it was a non-starter because the people who remove Trump from power will be vastly more respectful of America than he’s been.

Kind of a pity, really.

By: hank

hank — Wed, 17 May 2017 14:13:26 +0000

…is that when the Conservatives finally got their chance and seized power, when they finally got every single thing they wanted, they fucked things up beyond all belief.

And even those few of them who will actually admit how badly their solution turned out, can only respond…“Well, Donald Trump isn’t a REAL Conservative”.

By: hank

hank — Wed, 17 May 2017 13:48:18 +0000

If the American people wake up one morning and find the President gone and a new regime in power, they will immediately suspect foul play–and they will be right to do so! This suspicion will not be limited to Trump’s supporters, even his bitterest opponents will fear a coup. I know I count myself in that camp. The problem with revolutions is that no matter how justified they may be, they almost invariably result in something worse than the evil they are meant to address. Not only that, organizing a conspiracy like this, a genuine coup d’etat, even by TB’s demanding lexicography, would be impossible in today’s environment. What do you propose, a junta of rogue military officers, police officials and intelligence agents, like in some sordid South American banana republic? Even if it were possible, no one would accept the result.

No, this has to be done open and above-board, strictly by the numbers. It must be by the book, constitutional and bi-partisan, and done in a way that everyone can see what is happening while its happening, and by whom. And there must be a proper paper trail, both an official record and an independent one conducted by academics and the press, so that future historians can revisit the affair and examine it critically.

I say this for perfectly practical reasons, not just out of respect for democratic norms and the rule of law. Anything less will risk, at worst, Civil War, and at best, Trump will be transformed into a martyr and his supporters will forever plague us with conspiracy theories and treachery forever.

We already have a precedent for this: Watergate. I’m aware that the present situation is not the same, and I am also aware of the very real risks you point out of moving deliberately and openly against a man like Trump and his deluded followers. But anything else will be simply unacceptable–and unmanageable.

Whether a constitutional change of power can still happen, considering the shameless brutality, self-serving corruption and cynicism of the Right, and the complacency hand-wringing indecision and cowardice on the Left, is another question altogether.

By: mcfly

mcfly — Wed, 17 May 2017 07:14:41 +0000

He needs to be removed from office in–if you’ll forgive me–a Russian manner. Before he even knows what’s happening, he finds himself on a plane to the middle of nowhere, all means of communication severed and his staff mostly–if not entirely–informed that their services are no longer required.

Is it the American way? No…but that’s what would make it an ideal end to Trump, a president who has utterly rejected everything that is sensible and sane in the American way.

We know there are Republicans who recognize the need, but will any of them put the well-being of America before their own willingness to sit at the feet of their conquering hero?